Still Christmas
It may be New Year's Eve but we are still in full Christmas mode at our house.
We've had a great Christmas thus far!
It all started on December 23rd with a small exchange amongst our kids and some of the daycare kids. We received a very generous gift that we look forward to enjoying.
Then Christmas Eve day we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with my immediate family. The kids got some awesome gifts that they, of course, had to dig into immediately. That night we headed back home in time for the 11:00 Christmas Eve service at our Church then home and straight to bed.
Santa came during the night and the kids woke up Christmas morning (after sleeping in - yay!) to way too many presents, as usual. We thought we had toned it down this year but as we got into it we discovered that wasn't the case. Christmas day we got to stay home and keep it low key. We did our traditional Christmas breakfast (cinnamon pull-apart rolls), lunch (appetizers), and dinner (out to our favorite Chinese buffet). Leading up to Christmas I was thinking we'd stray from our tradition and I'd cook up something more exciting. But in the end I'm glad we didn't. We really enjoy these traditions and it meant we spent virtually no time in the kitchen and we were able to devote that time elsewhere. We got to enjoy our gifts. Well, actually I've not yet gotten much time with my gifts. But the kids have so many new cool things that we went from one project to the next all day long. The house is still feeling somewhat destroyed as there's many things that still need to find a place to call home.
Friday evening (Dec 26th) we had a pizza party with the other daycare family. Carie received yet another generous Christmas gift that we'll enjoy. As part of Alexis' birthday gift (Abby & Ellie's school friend) we invited her and her sister over for pizza and an evening with us to see Frosty the Snowman. After the theater we picked up some special snacks and headed back to our house for some more playtime. While they played we started to get things together for the next day.
Saturday (Dec 27th) was another Christmas celebration. This time we celebrated with my extended family on my Dad's side. There were 52 in all that day... with a few missing. We arrived at my Aunt's house in time for lunch and about 12 hours later we packed up and headed home.
Sunday (Dec 28th) we opted to stay home from Church. We had a full afternoon with my cousin’s birthday party starting at 1:15. She is one of the 6 girls born within 6 months of each other.... 7 years ago. Abby & Ellie were numbers 3 & 4 out of that group. So I took the girls back over to my Aunt’s house for the party while Carie stayed home with Spencer in an effort to get him a much needed nap. As a bonus Carie was able to peel off some layers of the disaster that has become our house. I stuck around for the party since we were asked to help transport kids. With 3 minivans and a car we managed to get everyone transported to the theater.
Monday and Tuesday we were back to our normal schedules. Well, normal is a stretch. We won't have a glimpse of normal for about another week… if we are lucky and everyone settles back into their routines with ease.
Tonight we'll celebrate New Year’s Eve at home with our traditional appetizer and fondue party. Often we do some fun family activity in the afternoon. But this year I think we are keeping it low key. Spencer is recovering (I think) from an ear infection and Ellie just got back from the Peds office where we've discovered that she has a really bad ear infection (near rupturing) and a sore throat from all her drainage. Some friends may be coming over to celebrate with us but that was up in the air due to illnesses going around their house... and now our house.
Tomorrow (New Years Day) we'll host Carie's family for their Christmas celebration. We'll do a little Christmas celebrating, New Years celebrating, football partying, and birthday celebrating throughout the course of the day. Given that Yia Yia (the birthday person) won't be with us, the birthday celebration will be a smaller portion of the day than maybe otherwise.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday will hopefully be recovery days for us. I'm sure we'll venture out and do some fun family activities. But we also need to prepare everyone for the reality of Monday as we head back to school and work routines.
Christmas decorations will remain for the time being. We aren't ever in a huge rush to get them down "right after" Christmas... especially given that we are still celebrating. The only rule we have is that they can't go up until after Thanksgiving. New Years seems part of the "Holiday Season" to us so it seems natural to have the festive decorations still present. We generally wait until the kids head back to school before we dedicate any time to those efforts. It seems much better for us to not do it during their time off when we could be doing other fun family things. As an added (huge) bonus, there are less little hands helping put things away! The outside decorations and lights will naturally remain out and up until weather permits us to be safely and comfortably out to take them down.
Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year's Eve!
We've had a great Christmas thus far!
It all started on December 23rd with a small exchange amongst our kids and some of the daycare kids. We received a very generous gift that we look forward to enjoying.
Then Christmas Eve day we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with my immediate family. The kids got some awesome gifts that they, of course, had to dig into immediately. That night we headed back home in time for the 11:00 Christmas Eve service at our Church then home and straight to bed.
Santa came during the night and the kids woke up Christmas morning (after sleeping in - yay!) to way too many presents, as usual. We thought we had toned it down this year but as we got into it we discovered that wasn't the case. Christmas day we got to stay home and keep it low key. We did our traditional Christmas breakfast (cinnamon pull-apart rolls), lunch (appetizers), and dinner (out to our favorite Chinese buffet). Leading up to Christmas I was thinking we'd stray from our tradition and I'd cook up something more exciting. But in the end I'm glad we didn't. We really enjoy these traditions and it meant we spent virtually no time in the kitchen and we were able to devote that time elsewhere. We got to enjoy our gifts. Well, actually I've not yet gotten much time with my gifts. But the kids have so many new cool things that we went from one project to the next all day long. The house is still feeling somewhat destroyed as there's many things that still need to find a place to call home.
Friday evening (Dec 26th) we had a pizza party with the other daycare family. Carie received yet another generous Christmas gift that we'll enjoy. As part of Alexis' birthday gift (Abby & Ellie's school friend) we invited her and her sister over for pizza and an evening with us to see Frosty the Snowman. After the theater we picked up some special snacks and headed back to our house for some more playtime. While they played we started to get things together for the next day.
Saturday (Dec 27th) was another Christmas celebration. This time we celebrated with my extended family on my Dad's side. There were 52 in all that day... with a few missing. We arrived at my Aunt's house in time for lunch and about 12 hours later we packed up and headed home.
Sunday (Dec 28th) we opted to stay home from Church. We had a full afternoon with my cousin’s birthday party starting at 1:15. She is one of the 6 girls born within 6 months of each other.... 7 years ago. Abby & Ellie were numbers 3 & 4 out of that group. So I took the girls back over to my Aunt’s house for the party while Carie stayed home with Spencer in an effort to get him a much needed nap. As a bonus Carie was able to peel off some layers of the disaster that has become our house. I stuck around for the party since we were asked to help transport kids. With 3 minivans and a car we managed to get everyone transported to the theater.
Monday and Tuesday we were back to our normal schedules. Well, normal is a stretch. We won't have a glimpse of normal for about another week… if we are lucky and everyone settles back into their routines with ease.
Tonight we'll celebrate New Year’s Eve at home with our traditional appetizer and fondue party. Often we do some fun family activity in the afternoon. But this year I think we are keeping it low key. Spencer is recovering (I think) from an ear infection and Ellie just got back from the Peds office where we've discovered that she has a really bad ear infection (near rupturing) and a sore throat from all her drainage. Some friends may be coming over to celebrate with us but that was up in the air due to illnesses going around their house... and now our house.
Tomorrow (New Years Day) we'll host Carie's family for their Christmas celebration. We'll do a little Christmas celebrating, New Years celebrating, football partying, and birthday celebrating throughout the course of the day. Given that Yia Yia (the birthday person) won't be with us, the birthday celebration will be a smaller portion of the day than maybe otherwise.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday will hopefully be recovery days for us. I'm sure we'll venture out and do some fun family activities. But we also need to prepare everyone for the reality of Monday as we head back to school and work routines.
Christmas decorations will remain for the time being. We aren't ever in a huge rush to get them down "right after" Christmas... especially given that we are still celebrating. The only rule we have is that they can't go up until after Thanksgiving. New Years seems part of the "Holiday Season" to us so it seems natural to have the festive decorations still present. We generally wait until the kids head back to school before we dedicate any time to those efforts. It seems much better for us to not do it during their time off when we could be doing other fun family things. As an added (huge) bonus, there are less little hands helping put things away! The outside decorations and lights will naturally remain out and up until weather permits us to be safely and comfortably out to take them down.
Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year's Eve!
posted by Sonya at 8:47 AM
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